International Justice and Politics

Abstract

The dream of an independent justice has taken hold only in a few countries which believe in and try to respect Montesquieu’s doctrine of separation of powers. Even in those countries, as in others, national justice is inherently part of a country’s historical, political and cultural background, and related to its economic and social evolution. Judges, as citizens of their time, are not judging in an ivory tower. While called upon to apply the law, they are aware of and sensitive to their country’s past and current problems, of the evolution of mores.